Nailing Jello To A Wall
The first thing to do when challenged by evolutionists is to ask a simple question (and this works well for cultists too): If I can prove you wrong, will you change your belief? If the answer is no, then debating this person will be a complete waste of time. Anyone who had decided before the game begins what the outcome must be is close-minded and will ignore any facts presented against them. Generally their motivation in trying to engage you in debate is not to really discuss facts, but to amuse themselves. They’ll use every logical fallacy in the book and hope you don’t know them. As Christians we like to hope that “a seed will be planted”, but consider the “soil” first. You can drop seeds on a rock all day and nothing will ever take root. And of course, when you say this, they’ll accuse you of burying your head in the sand and not being willing to ’discuss facts’. But don’t fall for their siren song; they just want to have some perverse fun.
But suppose they say (whether honestly or not) that they would change positions if you proved them wrong. Most likely they are operating on a technicality: that they really would change positions if wrong, but they have already decided that no facts exist that would constitute proof. They will ’poison the well’ against any qualified scientists you may quote, or organizations you reference, even if they are reputable evo. sources. The exchange typically goes something like this:
- You creationists aren’t scientists.
- Oh, you quoted some PhDs? Well then, they got their degrees from a box of Cracker Jacks.
- What? They went to standard universities? Then by George they must never lecture there!
- They have peer-reviewed papers? Oh, then they weren’t on the subject of evolution.
- You quoted leading evolutionists? Ha! You took their words out of context!
One thing you can do is first send them to AnswersInGenesis. If they just brush it off then they are guaranteed to reject all scientific fact. AIG has hundreds of articles authored by PhDs, so if they disqualify all that, what chance do you think you have of doing better? People like that will never be convinced, no matter how much fact you present. Let them scream and rant, but don’t let them waste your time. Look for reasonable people who agree on what scientific facts are and who qualified scientists are, and who understand the meaning of open-mindedness.